RJ :† Welcome to this mail-interview. First let me
ask you the traditional question. When did you get involved in the mail-art
network?

†

Reply
on: 8-4-95 (internet)

†

GB :† //GUY BLEUS-42.292: DEAR RUUD, IN YOUR
INTRODUCTION OF THIS PROJECT YOU WROTE ABOUT THE MAIL-ART INTERVIEW PROJECT:
"THIS PROJECT I MAINLY START FOR MY RESEARCH ABOUT THE HISTORY OF
MAIL-ART"// //MEANWHILE YOU MUST KNOW MY SHAMELESS & SICK OPINION
ABOUT HISTORY & ABOUT THE HISTORY OF MAIL-ART// //IF NOT, YOU (+
"FUTURE" READERS OF THIS INTERVIEW) CAN FIND IT IN THE FOREWORD
"ART AS A COLLECTIVE MYTHOLOGY: MAIL ART" OF THE BOOK OF JOHN HELD
JR. "MAIL ART: AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY " (1991)// //YOU CAN ALSO
FIND MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS ISSUE IN MY PUBLICATION "EEN DIALOOG
TUSSEN DE POSTBODE EN ZIJN ELECTRONISCHE†
SCHADUW, ALSMEDE EEN ALGEMENE DISCOURS OVER MAIL-ART, MEER BEPAALD EEN
ONDERZOEK NAAR DE GRONDSLAGEN VAN EEN COMMUNICATIEF KUNSTFENOMEEN"
(1994)// //THE LATTER IS AN ANTHOLOGY OF SOME OF MY TEXTS// //IT'S A
COMPILATION OF 1991 FOR THE "KONINKLIJKE ACADEMIE VOOR WETENSCHAPPEN,
LETTEREN EN SCHONE KUNSTEN VAN BELGIE"////ANYWAY, HISTORY _IS_ A LIE//
//(YOU CAN READ MY ARGUMENTATION ELSEWHERE)//

†

//SO, I
NEVER GOT INVOLVED IN THE MAIL-ART NETWORK// //_WE_ (YOU + I + ALL THE
OTHER† NETLANDERS) _"ARE"_ THE
MAIL-ART NETWORK// //EVERY NETLANDER HAS HIS OR HER OWN WEB OF BORING AND/OR
INTERESTING STORIES// //MAIL-ART IS COMMUNICATION-ART AND AS SUCH THE
_"NOW"_ IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT// //AND THIS SUBJECT WILL
INCREASE IN THE _ELECTRONIC_ AND _DIGITAL_ FUTURE// //AT LEAST, IF THERE IS ANY
FUTURE AT ALL// //AT LEAST, IF THERE IS ANY FUTURE AT ALL// //AND IF SO, LET'S
BARK TOGETHER// //WAF-@-WAF// //WHOOF-@-WHOOF//

†

//BUT
OF COURSE, I COULD MENTION YOU THE _"HISTORIC"_† EVENTS I DID SUCH AS MY FIRST CORRESPONDENCE
ART PROJECT IN† 1968 WHICH RESULTED IN
THE PUBLICATION "SUBTERRANEAN II"†
(EDITED BY THE ACADEMY OF ART IN GHENT) OR THAT A LOT OF MY MAILINGS
WERE CENSORED WHEN I WAS A PUPIL OF 12 YEARS OLD IN THE BOARDING-SCHOOL OF THE
"KONINKLIJKE ATHENEUM OF TONGEREN" OR THAT I FIRST SAW THE ARTISTAMPS
OF E.F. HIGGINS III IN THE MID-SEVENTIES IN "HET PANDJE" IN HASSELT//
//IT ARE JUST FACTS AND MEMORIES AND ANECDOTES// //THEY'RE ALL READY TO BECOME
NEW MYTHS IN THE HISTORIC WORLD OF NETLANDING// //&/OR: _RAY JOHNSON IS
GOD_// //LET'S PRAY// //LET'S RAY// //IT'S HIGH NOON BY NOW, I THINK I MUST BE
HUNGRY// //DEAR RUUD, KEEP IN TOUCH//

RJ :† The nice thing about the interview with you is
that you have written down so many views, thoughts, etc... Most of the things I
would like to know about you I can look up in your books, catalogs, etc. If history
is a lie, you are giving lots of stuff to historians to write the history. Why
do you publish that much? (I hope you did eat well before answering this second
question!)

†

(because
of the long silence I wrote several times to Guy Bleus if this was the only
answer he was going to give, or that the interview would continue. As usual,
Guy is quite busy, and only months ago I received the CD-ROM that documented
his artistamps exhibition. The first CD-ROM catalogue in mail art. On July 24th
I received a letter from Guy in which he wrote that the interview will continue
in the autumn of 1996).

†

On
August 23rd I received a postcard from Guy Bleus from Copenhagen. I guess it is
no coincidence that just this summer there is the large exhibition at the Postal
Museum there in Copenhagen, and I am sure Guy Bleus visited that too.

†

Reply
on 28-05-1997 (via e-mail)

†

(The
e-mail was sent twice. The answer was an attachment, and the first time the
attachment wasn't found by me. The second e-mail contained an attachment I
couldn't decode, so I forewarded the e-mail to my e-mail at the college where I
work. There I could decode it and e-mailed Guy that I succeeded in reading his
second answer. At home in Tilburg again I fitted the text into the interview so
far and e-mailed Guy the next answer. Prints on paper were sent as well).

†

GB :† B. //From (x) To Ruud Janssen (interview via
internet)//

†

//I//† //Dear Ruud, today (05.29.1997) i well
received the interviews of carol stetser and e.f. higgins III//† //thanks a lot//† //as you know i keep everything in the archives of the
@dministration centre-42.292//†
//Answering your question//†
//yes ruud//† //you're right, i
make it easy for h/i/s/t/o/r/i/a/n/s//†
//but i really don't know why//†
//i just make use of the opportunities when they arrive (from the
unknown X)//† //i take the chance to
give the other mail-artists a publication//†
//networkers have the right to a publication when they send something
for a mail-art project//† //let's fight
for it//† //it's not that i want to
publish that much//† //it's always a
series of coincidences//† //it just
happens//† //@/f/a/t/e//† //& i follow my intuition//

†

//II//† //1// //from april 1995 until ... two years
later.† blue mail came out of the
blue////x-ray johnson is dead.† jo
42.langenaken (one of my best friends) is dead. sŲren kierkegaard is dead
(again)////2// //in the meantime there was (is) @dministration:† the 3 cd-roms, the psychedelic show, the
e-pÍle-mÍles, the scents, the private art detective, the postal museum of
brussels and the e-mail-art archives in hasselt//

†

//3//
//in may 1997 the smiling network experience is remastered &
digitalized.† but i'm still in love with
black vinyl.† the savage resurrection
(of history), the seeds (of internet) & the 13th floor elevators (of the
mail-art building)//† //electronic
thunder simulation is not new, it's but the logical consequence of an old
tradition.† art and philosophy dancing
in yellow footsteps of science and technology.†
the mystic owl of sister minerva.†
always-too-late-mail-art, never in time for the golden deadline//

†

//III//† //Waiting for the PELL-MELL network//

†

††††† //With Luck & Energy//

†

††††† //(x)//†
//Guy Bleus - 42.292//

††††† //THE @DMINISTRATION CENTRE//

††††† //p.o.box 43-B-3830 Wellen//

††††† //gb@pophost.eunet.be//

†

RJ :† How do you experience the Internet and the
e-mail after some years of practice. I know that you wrote texts about this
subject as well (which I could use as appendixes to this interview if you
like), but I am also interested in how far the electronic communication is
integrated in your daily life.......

†

next
answer on 3-3-1997 (e-mail with attachments)

†

GB :† //dear Question Number 3//

†

††††† //Dear Ruud//

†

††††† //It would be nice if you could @ttach (as
an appendix of this interview)//

††††† //the following texts: "A Dialogue
between the Postman and His//

RJ :† Can we still find the spirit of the sixties in
the mail-art networking? Or is mail-art already absorbed by the big
Administrative Monster....?

†

(this
question Guy formulated himself in one of his in-between e-mails he sent to me)

†

next
answer on 31-7-1997 (e-mail)

†

GB :† //A4 TO Q4//†
//AN _INTER-NET-VIEW_//

†

//DEAR
FRIEND RUUD//

//YOU
USE AN OLD INTERVIEW-TRICK:† ASKING ME
MY OWN QUESTIONS// //IT REMINDS ME TO AN INTERVIEW ABOUT MAIL-ART I DID
COMPLETELY ALONE WITH MYSELF (IN 1979) FOR "SPACE Z" IN
ANTWERP//††† //AS FOR ME, THE FREE
SPIRIT OF THE QUICKSILVER SIXTIES IS STILL EXISTING IN MAIL-ART//† //THE NETLAND ISN'T (YET) ABSORBED BY THE
BIG ADMINISTRATIVE MONSTER//† //MAIL-ART
IS A BELIEF IN COMMUNICATIVE AND POETIC VALUES//† //THEY CAN'T TAKE THAT AWAY FROM US//† //IT ISN'T A SOCIAL OR ECONOMICAL PROBLEM, BUT AN ISSUE
CONCERNING THE PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PSYCHEDELIC ATTITUDES OF THE INDIVIDUAL
NETWORKER//† //AS LONG AS SHE OR HE
REFUSES TO SELL HER OR HIS OWN DANCING SOUL//†
//THE ARTISTIC TRIP WILL CONTINUE//†
//BUT OF COURSE THERE IS THE HUGE PROBLEM OF SUCCESSION//† //WILL THE NEXT INTERNET-GENERATIONS STILL
BE INTERESTED TO BURN DOWN THE NEW COMMUNICATION MEDIA//† //OR WILL THEY SWALLOW THE FUTURE
MTV/CNN/NBC NONSENSE//† //SOME WEEKS AGO
I RECEIVED THE NEWS ABOUT JO KLAFFKI//†
//IT'S ALL SO WEIRD//† //I SAW
JOKI A FEW MONTHS AGO ON TV//† //AND
NOW//†† //WITHOUT YOUTHFUL DESIRES THE
PELL-MELL NETWORK OF THE ADMINISTRATION CENTRE LOOKS LIKE A POETIC
CEMETERY//† //FINALLY, IT DOESN'T MEAN
THAT MUCH//† //BUT SOMETIMES I ASK MYSELF:
"WHO'S NEXT"//† //AND THEN I
HOPE IT'S NOT ME//† //NOT BECAUSE I'M SO
AFRAID OF DYING//† //BUT THERE ARE STILL
SO MANY PROJECTS I HAVE TO REALIZE//†
//I'M NOT READY FOR THE FINAL DEADLINE//† //YET//

††††† //2//
//DURING THIS HOT SUMMER I HAD A LOT OF WORK TO DO IN THE OLD CINEMA TO CREATE
A BIGGER SPACE FOR MY NETWORKING ARCHIVE//†
//SOME ARTISTS ARE SENDING ME (OFTEN WHEN THEY STOP DOING MAIL-ART)
THEIR COMPLETE MAIL-ART COLLECTION AND THAT CREATES A LOT OF EXTRA WORK//† //IT'S MY GOAL TO DO A BIG OPENING OF THE
CINEMA-SPACE "THE SCENTS & ADMINISTRATION CENTRE - 42.292" AT
JANUARY THE 1ST 2000//

†

††††† //3//
//MEANWHILE I'M BUSY WITH 2 NEW MAIL-ART PROJECTS:† ONE IS CALLED "1001 DESKS/1001 BUREAUS: FOR AN OPEN
ADMINISTRATION" IN GRONINGEN (NORTHERN HOLLAND)//† //DEADLINE: 31.01.1998//† //THE EXHIBITION WILL BE NEXT YEAR IN
AUTUMN// //WITH A CD-ROM CATALOGUE//†
//ONE HAS TO TRANSFORM AND SEND BACK A POSTCARD WITH THE DESK OF THE
MAYOR OF GRONINGEN//

†

†//4// //THE OTHER BIG MAIL-ART PROJECT IS
CALLED "AMBIORIX - KING OF THE EBURONS / AGAINST CULTURAL OPPRESSION//
.//IT WILL TAKE PLACE IN THE CULTURAL CENTRE OF TONGEREN (BELGIUM)// //DEADLINE:
30.06.1999// //THERE WILL BE A PRINTED CATALOGUE// //THE EXHIBITION IS IN
"DE VELINX" IN TONGEREN WITH ALL THE ENTRIES FROM JUNE 11TH, 2000
UNTIL SEPTEMBER 11TH, 2000//† //ALSO A
NUMBER OF MAIL-ART CATALOGUES & OTHER ARTEFACTS FROM THE T.A.C-42.292 ARCHIVES
WILL BE SHOWED//† //DURING THE
"VERNISSAGE", THE OPENING OF THE EXHIBITION THERE WILL BE A
CLONING-FESTIVAL INCLUDING "THE RESURRECTION OF AMBIORIX" AND AN
AMBIORIX-MAIL-ART PARADE// //SOON YOU'LL RECEIVE THE INVITATIONS OF BOTH THE
PROJECTS//

††††† //6//
//THIS ARE SOME OF MY PLANS FOR THE NEAR FUTURE//† //BUT THERE ARE HAPPENING SO MANY POST-SURREALISTIC AND MAYBE
DANGEROUS THINGS IN MY LIFE AT THE MOMENT//†
//I REALLY DON'T KNOW WHAT TO THINK OR BELIEVE ABOUT THESE "PRIVATE
ART DETECTIVE" EXPERIENCES//†
//I'LL MENION IN A NEXT QUESTION, CALLED NUMBER SIX, THE WHO'S AND
WHY'S//

(I
didn't ask a question! However I did send a contribution to a project that Guy
Bleus is undertaking, where he selects single short statements. Also he is
working on several other things about which he wrote in answer # 5 and again in
#6)

†

next
answer on 2-12-1997

†

††††† GB :† To:
tam@dds.nl

††††† Subject: Internet Mail-Art Interview

†

††††† //Interview//Answer/Question/Number 06//

†

††††† //Dear Ruud//

†

//6//
//The 1400 invitations of the mail-art project in Groningen "1001
Desks/1001 Bureaus: For an OPEN ADMINISTRATION" are sent out.† Please participate to this new
anti-bureaucratic project.† It was not
easy to have a photograph of the desk of the mayor from Groningen.† In the past I made a lot of installations
with desks (since 1978).† For instance,
in Antwerp, in Amsterdam, Groningen, Hasselt, Gent, Heusden-Zolder,
Leopoldsburg, Brussels, Leuven, Munster, KŲln, Aachen, etc.† I hope that in the meantime you already
received the Fax- and Internet catalogue "Working in A Coalmine / Mail Art
Networkers are Miners", distributing last thursday.† There are 50 participants.

†

Tomorrow
I'm going to set up your individual exhibition in the E-mail-Art Space in
Hasselt.† I hope you like it a little
bit, because it is always a lot of work.†
Sometimes their are a lot of visitors (students, artists and art
critics).† Many people ask me to show
their work, but it's only possible to do 12 shows in one year.

†

I trust
that you accept my answer number 5 (and also 6 = this one) for your
interview.† Of course I also include
Statements about e-mail-art for my Manifestos project, even if they are sent by
snail mail.† I don't care at all.† I don't work for an Administrative
Institute.† I'm completely free. All my
work is a parody of the neurotic bureaucracy.†
Very few artists understand this Irony.†
Probably they are much too Serious.†
Your Statement is the only one not transmitted (and received) via the
net.† There are already 16
participanting networkers such as, H.R.Fricker, Jas W Felter, Vittore Baroni,
John M.Bennett , Sarah Jackson, Anna Banana, Artoposto, Reed Altemus,† Andrej Tisma, K.Frank Jensen etc. (And in
order of date and hour, you are number 8).

†

I
always accept all the entries (without rejections).† If someone participates in my fax projects and sends it by
another medium, it doesn't matter.† I
never rejected fax-art without fax-transmissions (ask Josť vdBroucke).†

†

Maybe a
little more fair-play, mutual respect and real friendship is needed in
Mail-Art. Very few mail-artists can understand how much work it is to organize
a project with hundreds of participants and sending "every"
participant every time a real FREE catalogue or a cd-rom.† This means working day and night, without
being paid for it.† And sometimes: not
even a single word of appreciation for it. But I still continue because I love
the Mail-Art-Stress, the Deadlines, the Irony and of course I'm not a quitter
before I die.

†

(Here
we can close the Internet Mail-Art Interview)

//With
Luck & Energy//

†

††††† //Guy Bleus - 42.292//

††††† //THE @DMINISTRATION CENTRE//

††††† //P.O.BOX 43-B-3830 WELLEN//

††††† //TEL & FAX: +32 12 741415//

††††† //gb@pophost.eunet.be//

†

†

†

†

†

Address
mail-artist:

†

Guy
Bleus - 42.292

Administration
Center

P.O.Box
43

Wellen

BELGIUM

†

e-mail
:††† gb@pophost.eunet.be

†

†

APPENDIX-1

†

by Guy
Bleus-42.292

†

A
DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE POSTMAN

AND HIS
ELECTRONIC SHADOW

†

The
position of the mailman as the ultimate man†
in the (pre-)electronic communication process.

†

01. The
history of communication is a lie. Because the story is only a story and therefore
incomplete, selective and interpreted.†
Blatantly absent in the recollection is the anonymous, that which
doesn't have the power to make itself known, but that equally can make sense
and be sublime.† The conversations
between past, present and future are always fragmentary and/or prophetic; a
mishmash of truth, semi-truth and fiction, the tension between reality and
illusion.

†

02. It
is not actual or postmodernistic (rather postexistentialistic) to move on the
historical currents of the social problem of communication.† For the mailman is not a son of Laszlo
Moholy-Nagy, but he is the inevitable sun for Mail-Art.† The mailman is no artist, but the moon of
communication.† The mailman is unkown,
yet not without significance within the story of postal arts, day and night.

†

03. The
eclectic novel of the new communicative space threatens to strangle the
romantic narrative lines of man in communication.† Technology dehumanizes the games between sender and receiver.† But who is going to bother with the urbanization
of cyberspace? Is there enough space for an ethic of the "social"
superhighway?

†

04. The
mailman is a communicative anachronism.†
But on the other hand he makes that same transfer of information
visible.† He is an essential trace
within communicative reality.† The
letter carrier is not the owner of the information.† But he is more than a symbol or an icon, moving on the level of
language, in the language play between word and meaning.† The mailman is a referent on the level of
reality, a human of flesh and blood.† It
is of course nostalgic to presume that the 21st century will cherish the same
totem animals as the 20th.† Electronics
are the guillotine of the mail (as a system of information).† Postcards, post marks and stamps are the
memorabilia of administrative rituals from a recent past.

†

05.
"The end of a workers era is the beginning of..."† Even Mercury, the mailman of the Gods, is
impotent to complete the previous sentence.†
Ten years after 1984 we see an Orwellian hurricane approaching and no
one knows where and when it will hit.†
Or are all sceptics wrong and is there an interactive and electronic
nirvana lying ahead of us?

†

06. The
spring of communication is over.† The
installation's artifacts look back and take different positions: where is the
(symbolic) center of communication? Which strategies do exist to save the
frivolous adultery of democracy in a so-called "decentralized"
cyberspace?

†

07. The
earth loses its cosmic position as a center to the advantage of
heliocentrism.† Theocentrism is defeated
by anthropocentrism and humanism.† After
God, the (ultimate) man dies, too.† One
grumbles and talks about eco-facism.†
Only on the materialistic level egocentrism is alive and kicking.† The subject has been buried.† Some are waiting for a resurrection.

†

08. The
epistemological question of present communication is (still) possible, is
socially and historically irrelevant.†
The vulture of power relations circles especially around the correlation
between the quality and the quantity of communication.† Not the values, but the numbers rule the
planet.† The merchandizing of
information is a fact.

†

09. The
distance between people gets increasingly smaller as the speed of communication
increases.† In theory this implies that
the world will end in one point that is situated between nowhere and
everywhere.

†

10. The
social function of the mailman (the effective contact with man) disappears
because of the increase of†
telecommunication.† The notion of
"social" gets a new dimension.†
One can be alone yet be very†
social within the myth of cyberspace.†
The psychology of personal space needs to be reconsidered urgently.† Can this be a matter of pathological
communication?† Indisputably there is an
increase of alienation regarding the "really" fellow human
being.† But what is still real? What is
virtual?

†

11. The
contradiction between man and machine is getting smaller.† The machine that increases alienation among
human beings within the social system, brings people closer† together.†
The paradox of the cyberspace traveller or netizen.

†

12. A
tribute to man seems unsuitable.† The
letter carrier who contributes to the realization of Mail-Art, who is the
carrier of postal art, is invisible.†
Man has become but a dilapidated metaphor.

†

13. An
individual "pro-mailman" position is not an a-political theme in a
time when man is subjected to the machine.†
De la Mettrie becomes the spiritual father of McLuhan and Gibson.† Where is the information-proletariat
situated in this process of communicative "progress"?

†

14. A
human approach of the post and communication commits itself on the level of the
labor and labor-intensity.† The notion
of "unemployment" threatens to loose its meaning in a new social
reality, and thus get a new dimension.†
To be unemployed doesn't apply anymore to man only, but to the lack of
electronic communication equipment as well.†
On the other hand, the same electronics create a wave of unemployment.

†

15. A
political subject would be: to recognize the superhighway as a culture of Power.† It is being whispered: Internet is an
"anarchist" way, without hierarchical structure, without
leaders.† Gossip or truth?

†

16. The
attention to the role of "man" in the communication system is reduced
to a linguistic or semiologic matter.†
The ethical consequences of hunger, of stress, of feelings, of shortages
or of friendship in communication seem to be lost in the wrong millennium.† Human activities disappear in the postal
process "apparently" by an increase of electronic communication.† The monitor estheticizes.

†

17. Yet
one forgets one thing in this interactive story: the sedentary, electronic
human being who is enclosing himself in order to do "home shopping"
by means of his monitor and his keyboard, will have to appeal to
"people" who deliver the parcels home.† Hence the post's function to distribute products will
increase.† Unless everything gets in the
hands of privatized courier services.† A
political option with relation to "cocooning".

†

18. In
the installation the labour of the postal workers is visualized by a series of
60 mail bags, filled with information; also shown are portraits of unknown
mailmen.† The tools (stamps, ink and
paper) used by postal employees are intended to focus on the human being behind
the object.

†

19. The
proper functioning of the postal services is accentuated by the individual
project "indirect correspondence", this means correspondence via a
detour.† For instance references to
ficticious persons and/or addresses.† On
the schemes of the itinerary and also on the very same circulating letters
appear traces on the post, in the snow of time and space.† These traces indicate the respect for pieces
of mail and the accuracy with which the postal system operates.

21. In
the construction of the Cathedral of Communication the anonymity of the mailman
is an essential fact.† His ephemeral
contacts with correspondence, the content of which he will never know.† An intuitive retrospective of the evolution
of (electronic) communication shows a system of objects and traces, in which
the letter carrier as a concept accentuates the democratic aspect of the postal
services.† An extracting sculpture about
postal and post-postal thinking, feeling and wanting.

†

22. The
present is always the past to the future.

†

23.
Fall 994.

†

Guy
Bleus - 42.292

The
Administration Centre / Networking Archives

P.O.
Box 43 / 3830 Wellen / Tel. & Fax: (+)32-12-741 415

E-Mail:
gb@pophost.eunet.be

†

†

†

†

APPENDIX-2

†

by Guy
Bleus-42.292

†

TELECOPYING
IN THE ELECTRONIC NETLAND

GUY
BLEUS - 42.292

†

†

//1////THE WORLD IS A FAX-VILLAGE// //AFTER A. THE
AEROGRAM, TELEGRAM AND MAIL-GRAM, B. THE TELEPHONE AND TELEX; THERE IS C. THE
FACSIMILE OR TELEFAX// //ARTEFAX IS MORE RELATED TO TELEPHONE(-ART) THAN TO
MAIL(-ART)// //NETWORKING OR (TELE-) COMMUNICATION ART IS THE LOWEST COMMON
DENOMINATOR//

//3////FACSIMILE// //N. (< L. FAC, IMPERATIVE OF
FACERE, TO MAKE + SIMILE, LIKE), 1. AN EXACT LIKENESS, REPRODUCTION, OR COPY:
ABBREV. FAC.; 2. THE TRANSMISSION AND RE-PRODUCTION OF PRINTED MATTER BY A
PROCESS INVOLVING THE USE OF RADIO BROAD-CAST, MICROWAVE RELAY OR REGULAR
TELPHONE LINES.; ADJ. OF OR HAVING THE NATURE OF, A FACSIMILE; V; T; (-LED,
-LEING), TO MAKE A FACSIMILE OF. - IN FACSIMILE, AS AN EXACT LIKENESS//

†

//4////COPY// //(< O. FR. < ML. COPIA, COPIOUS
TRANSCRIPT < L. COPIA, ABUNDANCE)// //A CO-PY HAS TO BE TRUTHFULLY BY DEFINITION//
//"10.- 22.- 38 ASTORIA" IS MOSTLY ACCEPTED AS THE FIRST TEXT IN THE
HISTORY OF THE XEROGRAPHY// //IT WAS REALIZED IN NEW YORK BY THE AMERICAN
PHYSICIST CHESTER F. CARLSON (1906-1968) AND HIS ASSISTENT OTTO KOR-NEI// //YET
THE TRUE FATHER OF THE PHOTOCOPY SHOULD BE THE GERMAN PROFESSOR JO-HANN
HEINRICH SCHULZE WHO REALIZED THE VERY FIRST PHOTOCOPY IN "1727" IN
ALTDORF (NURNBERG)// //THE FACT IS THAT MANY PRAISEWORTHY INVENTORS NEVER WILL
SHINE IN THE CRUEL SPOTLIGHTS OF THE PHOTOCOPY-HISTORY// //ANYWAY, TODAY ANYONE
CAN MAKE A PHOTOCOPY AND BECOME AN ARTIST AT THE PUSH OF A BUTTON// //ALTHOUGH
CO-PY ART & TELECOPY ART HAVE SEPERATE TECHNOLOGICAL ROOTS THEY CERTAINLY
ARE ARTISTIC NETWORKING NEPHEWS//

†

//5////FAX-ART (ALSO CALLED "ART(E)FAX" OR
TELECOPY-ART) IS A LOGICAL CONSEQUENCE OF THE ECONOMICAL EVOLUTION OF THE
TELEFAX MACHINE// //THERE ARE NO FAX TRANS-MISSIONS IF NOBODY CAN BUY A FAX
APPARATUS// //TELECOPY ART DOESN'T RESPECT THE SAME STANDARDS AS XEROGRAPHY OR
COPY-ART// //THE LATTER IS AN EVENT// //IT IS THE ARTIST WHO INDICATES AT A
PARTICULAR MOMENT WHICH PHOTOCOPIES ARE ARTISTIC WORKS AND WHICH ARE NOT//
//FAX-ART NEEDS AN ELECTRONIC PROCESS// //IT IS TELE-COMMUNICATION ART// //THE
ARTIST CAN TRANSMIT HIS OR HER IMAGE OR WORK, BUT HE OR SHE HAS NOT THE FULL
CONTROL OVER THE FACSIMILE EQUIPMENT OF THE RECEIVER// //SO THE AESTHETIC
ASPECTS OF THE FAXWORK BECOME OF SECONDARY IMPORTACE IN COMPARISON WITH THE
COMMUNICATIVE ASPECTS// //IN OTHER WORDS A WORK CAN ONLY BECOME FAX ART IF IT
IS TRANSMITTED//

†

//6////THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL FAX ART PROJECTS GO
BACK TO THE EARLY EIGHTIES WITH IMPORTANT PROJECTS AS "THE WORLD IN 24
HOURS" (SEPTEMBER 27 & 28, 1982) AS A PART OF THE "ARS
ELECTRONICA 1982" ORGANIZED BY ROBERT (BOB) ADRIAN// //OR "pARTiciFAX"
(ELECTRONIC MAIL) (JUNE, 1984) CO-ORDINATED BY PEETER SEPP, LISA SEL-LYEH, MARY
MISNER, MICHAEL BIDNER, A.O. WITH PARTICIPANTS FROM AFRICA, AMERICA, ASIA,
AUSTRALIA, AND EUROPE// //IN THE LATE EIGHTIES FAX BECOMES AN INTEGRATED PART
OF THE MAIL-ART NETWORK// //IN THIS RESPECT WE CAN PERCEIVE MORE AND MORE
MAIL-ART PROJECTS ALSO MENTIONING A TELEFAX NUMBER, SO THE ARTISTS CAN CHOOSE
THEMSELVES IF THEY WANT TO SEND THEIR WORK VIA POST OR FAX// //MANY NETWORKERS
HAVE ALREADY CURATED OR ORGANIZED SPECIFIC TELEFAX OR ARTEFAX PROJECTS, E.G.
ARTPOOL/GALANTAI, GUY BLEUS, PETER BRANDT, PAOLO BRUSCKY, PIERMARIO CIANI,
NA-TALE CUCINIELLO, KO DE JONGE, CHARLES FRAN√OIS, MAURICIO GUERRERO, JOHN HELD
JR., GIUSEPPE IANNICELLI, LORA JOST, CHRISTIAN PFAFF, ETC.// //A GOOD ADVICE
FOR FAX PER-FORMANCES OR FAX PROJECTS IS TO HAVE PERMANENTLY MORE THAN ONE FAX
LINE OPEN// //"WAITING" TO HAVE CONTACT SEEMS TO BE AN ESSENTIAL
ASPECT OF TELEFAX COMMUNICATION// //BECAUSE THE LINES ARE ALWAYS BUSY//

†

//7////THE TRANSMITTED OR RECEIVED TELECOPY IS
ALWAYS AN ORIGINAL// //THE CONTEXT OR INTENSION OF THE TRANSMISSION CAN BE
FALSE// //BUT A FAX DOES NEVER LIE// //IT IS THE INTERACTION AND RESULT OF A
SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL PROCESS//

†

//8////SINCE FAX ART IS ELECTRONIC MAIL-ART ONE CAN
ALSO TRANSMIT "INDIRECT" FAX WORKS// //X SENDS A FACSIMILE TO Y WITH
THE REQUEST TO TRANSMIT IT TO Z (NOW Y CAN ADD OR ERASE SOME ASPECTS OF THE FAX
BEFORE SENDING IT TO Z)// //THIS IS A GOOD AND FAST METHOD TO REALIZE
CO-ARTWORKS IN NO TIME//

†

//9////FAXING CAN TRANSFORM THE NOTION OF TIME//
//BY OBSTRUCTING THE "ORIGINAL" (NOT TRANSMITTED) TEXT OR IMAGE ONE
CAN INFLUENCE THE DURATION OF THE FAX TRANSMISSION// //FOR INSTANCE, ONE CAN
MANIPULATE THE TELEFAX MACHINE BY WITH-DRAWING, STRETCHING, PULLING UP, PULLING
FURTHER OUT (A PART OF) THE TRANSMIT-TING PAGES// //BESIDES THESE VERTICAL
MANOEUVRES ALSO HORIZONTAL (ZIG-ZAG, SHA-KING OR WAVING) ACTIONS ARE POSSIBLE//
//MOREOVER THE MISUSE OF THE ELECTRONIC APPARATUS CAN BE REPEATED// //ALL THESE
OPERATIONS WILL AFFECT BOTH THE PROCESS OF THE FAXTRANSMISSION AND THE
TRANSMITTED IMAGE OR WORK// //THE LATTER CAN ALSO BE INFLUENCED BY
INTERVENTIONS ON THE FAXPAPER: HEATING, CRUMPLING UP, THE USE OF CORROSIVE
LIQUIDS, ETC.// //THESE OPERATIONS CAN GIVE WONDERFUL AND UNEX-PECTED RESULTS
AND CHANGE THE FAX PROCESS// //BUT OF COURSE ALL THESE ARTISTIC INTERVENTIONS
ARE NOT HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR THE WELL-BEING OF YOUR TELEFAX MACHINE//

†

//10//††††† //OPPONENTS OF TELEFAX AS AN ARTISTIC
MEDIUM CORRECTLY EMPHASIZE ITS SHORTCOMINGS// //FAX "IS" MORE
EXPENSIVE THAN POSTAL NETWORKING// //ONE CAN'T TRANSMIT SCENTS OR 3-D OBJECTS//
//FACSIMILE MEANS "SELECTION"// //ONE CAN NOT RE-CEIVE SEVERAL FAXES
AT THE SAME TIME (WITH ONLY ONE TELEFAX LINE)// //ETC.// //ALL THESE REMARKS
AIN'T WITHOUT THRUTH// //BUT THE PROBLEM IS THAT "EVERY" ARTISTIC
MEDIUM HAS ITS OWN LIMITATIONS// //FOR INSTANCE, MAIL-ART IS NOT THE PROPER OR
ADEQUATE MEDIUM FOR A SCULPTOR// //SO, SCULPTURE IS HIGHLY SELECTIVE BECAUSE A
BLOCK OF MARBLE OR BLUE-STONE IS MORE EXPENSIVE THAN A FAX TRANSMISSION// //BUT
THESE ARTFORMS ARE BEYOND COMPARISON AND DOING SO MEANS CONFUSING CONCEPTS//
//SCULPTURE, FILM, MAIL-ART, PHOTOGRAPHY, COMPUTER ART, FAX ART, ETC. ARE
DIFFE-RENT WAYS OF ARTISTIC EXPRESSION// //POSSIBILITY, FEASIBILITY, MONEY,
IDIOSYNCRACY AND PREFERENCE ARE SOME OF THE APPLICABLE NOTIONS IN THIS TASTY
RHUBARB//

†

//11//††††† //FROM AN IDEOLOGICAL OR ETHICAL POINT OF
VIEW ALL ART MEDIA MEAN "SELEC-TION", EVEN THE DEMOCRATIC MAIL-ART
NETWORKING// //HOW MANY MAIL ARTISTS ARE THERE IN NORTH KOREA, CAMBODIA,
VIETNAM, TIBET, LIBANON, IRAN, SUDAN OR SOMA-LIA?// //ART IS FREEDOM AND
LUXURY// //FAX IS FUN// //IT HAS NO "ETHICAL" OR
"IDEOLO-GICAL" IMPLICATIONS// //EXCEPT THIS ONE: THE (ELECTRONIC) (MAIL-ART)
WORLD HAS BE-COME A GLOBAL VILLAGE WITH MANY "BLIND SPOTS"//

†

//12//††††† //TO FAX OR NOT TO FAX IS NOT THE
QUESTION// //FAXING OR TELECOPYING JUST ADDS NEW ELECTRONIC PERSPECTIVES TO THE
EXISTING MAIL-ART ACTIVITIES// //THE CONSE-QUENCES WON'T CAUSE AN INFLATION OF
THE NETWORKING COMMUNICATION OR REPLACE THE PREVIOUS MAIL-ART RITUALS// //BUT
EXPLORING ALL THE ADDITIONAL ELECTRONIC POSSIBILITIES MEANS A NEW STIMULUS FOR
THE ETERNAL NETLAND//